Download Session 2: who is responsible?

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Session 2: who is responsible?
Age range: 11 - 14 years
Outline
Learners will list some human causes of climate change. They will identify climate change contributors along a supply chain from field to supermarket. Finally, learners will investigate the carbon
footprints of people living in different countries around the world.
Learning objectives
Learning outcomes
To identify some human activities contributing to climate change.
To understand what a carbon footprint is.
To recognise that everybody in the world has a carbon footprint but some people and
countries are responsible for more CO2 emissions than others.
Key questions
Learners will list some human activities which are contributing to climate change.
Learners will identify and sort some of the processes involved in producing a loaf of bread and
getting it to someone’s home, and consider which of these processes use fossil fuels.
Learners will investigate CO2 emissions per person in different countries around the world.
Resources
What human activities are contributing towards climate change?
What processes are involved in producing a loaf of bread?
What is a carbon footprint?
Who is responsible for climate change?
Who are the biggest contributors?
Climate challenge A slideshow: slides 9 – 16.
Resource sheet: Life history of an aluminium can.
Activity sheets:
o
The journey of a loaf of bread.
o
Who is responsible for climate change?
Curriculum links
England
Wales
KS3 Science
Biology: Interactions and interdependencies
Relationships in an ecosystem
Pupils should be taught about how organisms affect, and
are affected by, their environment, including the
accumulation of toxic materials.
Chemistry: Earth and atmosphere
Pupils should be taught about the production of carbon
dioxide by human activity and the impact on the climate.
KS3 Science
Interdependence of organisms
How human activity affects the global environment, e.g.
acid rain, greenhouse effect, and the measures taken to
minimise any negative effects and monitor them, e.g. by
Earth observation satellites.
KS3 Geography
Human and physical geography
Pupils should be taught to understand how human and
physical processes interact to influence, and change
landscapes, environments and the climate; and how
human activity relies on effective functioning of natural
systems.
KS3 Geography
Understanding places, environments and processes
Explain the causes and effects of physical and human
processes and how the processes interrelate, e.g.
causes and consequences of tectonic activity, impacts of
migration in Europe.
Explain how and why places and environments change
and identify trends and future implications, e.g.
population increase, climate change, globalisation.
ESDGC: Climate Change, Choices and Decisions
Scotland
Sciences
Through exploring the carbon cycle, I can describe the
processes involved in maintaining the balance of gases in
the air, considering causes and implications of changes in
the balance.
SCN 4-05b
Through investigation, I can explain the formation and use of
fossil fuels and contribute to discussions on the responsible
use and conservation of finite resources.
SCN 4-04b
Social Studies
I can identify the possible consequences of an
environmental issue and make informed suggestions about
ways to manage the impact.
SOC 3-08a
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Activity 2.1: What contributes to climate change? (20 min)
Show slide 10. Remind learners that burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil has increased
the amounts of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, in the Earth’s atmosphere. Ask
learners to think of human activities which involve burning these kinds of fuels (and therefore
lead to increased carbon dioxide emissions).
o
Think: ask learners to think on their own for a couple of minutes and note down their ideas.
o
Pair: give learners a couple of minutes to compare their answers.
o
Share: spend a few minutes sharing some of the learners’ answers as a whole group.
Individually or in pairs, give each learner a plain sheet of paper and ask them to fold it in half. On
the left-hand side, they should write a list of everything they do on a normal day such as getting
up, having a shower or eating breakfast. On the right-hand side they should place a tick by any
of these activities which they think use fossil fuel energy. Remind them that fossil fuels are used
in many ways such as transport, heating and electricity. Plastics are also made from fossil fuels.
Approximately 85% of the UK’s energy consumption comes from fossil fuels (coal, oil, petroleum
and natural gas products).1
1
World Bank Data, 2012: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.USE.COMM.FO.ZS
After they have completed their lists, ask for volunteers to share them. Did the rest of the class
notice any activities that use fossil fuels which they had missed? Alternatively, ask volunteers to
read out their lists of activities and ask the rest of the class to put their hands up when they think
an activity uses fossil fuels. Ask someone with their hand up to explain how the activity uses
fossil fuels, for example a shower uses hot water which is heated by gas or electricity.
Activity 2.2: Food, drink and climate change (45 min)
Show slide 11. Ask learners what they know about how an aluminium can is made.
o
Where does it come from?
o
What processes are involved in making it?
Show learners the Life history of an aluminium can. Talk through the process that it shows.
Explain that bauxite is a rock from which aluminium is made. It has to be dug up from the ground
using big, oil-powered machines. Point out that this is just about the can – it does not include all
the ingredients that go into the drink inside it, or the inks that are used to print the pictures on
the outside.
Organise learners into groups of three or four and show slide 12. If possible give each group the
empty packaging from a loaf of bread.
Ask learners to think about what processes were involved in getting that loaf of bread to
someone’s home.
o
What ingredients are used?
o
What processes are involved in making the loaf of bread and getting it to someone’s home?
Think about where the ingredients come from, how the loaf of bread is made and how it is
transported.
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o
What is the packaging made from and how is it made?
o
How might the supermarket use fossil fuels, for example for their lighting and heating?
Ask each group to draw a flow-chart showing all the processes they think went into making the
loaf of bread and getting it to someone’s home. They should consider all the stages necessary
for gathering the ingredients, making the packaging, and combining and cooking the ingredients
to make the bread. Learners might like to make a rough copy first as it is likely to look quite
messy.
Next, ask learners to choose two or three of the processes to illustrate, such as a combine
harvester harvesting the wheat, machines packing the bread or the bread baking in an oven and
draw a picture of each process on a small piece of paper.
Ask learners to then cut out and sequence their pictures on a large piece of paper around a
picture of a loaf of bread in the middle. They should stick down their pictures and add arrows
showing how the different parts of the process connect.
Finally, ask learners to use a bright colour pen to mark all the stages which would have used
fossil fuels and therefore contributed to climate change.
Display all the flowcharts and allow time for learners to circulate and look at the flow charts of
other groups. If time, ask each group to present and explain their flowchart to the rest of the
class.
Differentiation
Make it easier: Provide groups with a copy of The journey of a loaf of bread. Explain that the
pictures and text show some of the processes involved in getting a loaf of bread to someone’s
home. Ask learners to cut out the boxes and arrange them into a flow chart to show the order in
which these stages will happen. Learners should stick the boxes onto a blank piece of paper
and add arrows to show how the different processes connect. Encourage learners to then add
on pictures and text to their flowchart to show other processes involved. Finally, ask them to
highlight parts of the process which require fossil fuels and therefore contribute to climate
change.
Activity 2.3: Who is responsible for climate change? (20 mins)
Show slide 13. Explain that a carbon footprint is used to describe the amount of carbon dioxide
released into the atmosphere as a result of activities by an individual person, an organisation, a
community, a country or an event.
Explain that every person on our planet has a carbon footprint. However some people and some
countries have larger carbon footprints than others. Ask learners why they think this is. Is this
fair?
Organise learners into groups of three or four. Give each group a copy of Who is responsible for
climate change? Ask learners to cut out the boxes and order the countries according to what
they think are their CO2 emissions per person each year. The country with the biggest emissions
should be at the top and the country with the smallest at the bottom.
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Allow time for groups to share their ideas. Encourage learners to give reasons for their
decisions.
Show slide 14 to share the correct country order (also provided below). Discuss learners’
responses. Ask if they are surprised by any of the results. Note that Activity 2.4 gives learners
the opportunity to discuss why they think CO2 emissions per person are greater in some
countries than in others.
Country
CO2 emissions per person in
2012 (tCO2):
World ranking according to
CO2 emissions per person in
2012 (tCO2):
United Arab Emirates
25.0
1
USA
18.0
6
Australia
15.0
15
UK
10.0
31
South Africa
6.4
50
China
5.8
52
Brazil
2.4
71
India
1.7
80
Malawi
0.2
110
Please note that the above data relate to consumption based CO2 emissions. They include
emissions both from those within the country and those caused by the production of the country’s
imports).
Source: The Global Carbon Atlas: http://globalcarbonatlas.org/
Activity 2.4: Investigating the Global Carbon Atlas (30 min)
Ask students how they would investigate the following question:
o
Which countries have the worst CO2 emissions?
Discuss their ideas:
o
What does ‘the worst’ mean?
o
Which CO2 emitting activities would you measure?
o
How would you measure it?
Show slide 15. Explain that this world map shows the amount of carbon dioxide produced on
average per person (CO2 emissions per capita) for each country in 2012. Data isn’t available for
some of the countries.
Alternatively you might like to use the interactive version of the map:
http://globalcarbonatlas.org/?q=emissions
Oxfam Education
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o
Under Emissions – Type, you can select either Territorial or Consumption. Consumption
includes those emissions both from within the country and those caused by the production of
the country’s imports. Territorial only includes the CO2 emissions produced within the
country. The map shown on slide 15 is consumption-based.
o
Under Emissions – Units, select tCO2/person.
o
The default settings for Countries is All, however you may wish to change this to focus on
particular regions or other groupings.
o
If using the consumption-based map you will need to click 2012 on the timeline (no data is
available for 2013).
o
You can then use the cursor to explore the map. Move over a country to display its name,
world ranking, CO2 emission per capita and total population.
Discuss with learners what they can see on the world map. Ask them which countries and
continents they can identify. They may need to refer to a reference world map or atlas for help.
Ask learners questions about the map:
o
Which continents emit the most carbon dioxide per person?
o
Which parts of the world produce the least carbon dioxide per person?
o
Why do you think some countries emit more (or less) carbon dioxide per person than others?
o
Is this fair?
If using the interactive version of the map, ask learners to use it to find out the CO2 emissions
per person for specific countries.
Learners could investigate the difference between territorial and consumption emissions for
particular countries. For example:
Country
Territorial-based CO2
emissions per person in 2012
Consumption CO2 emissions
per person in 2012
UK
7.6
10.0
China
7.0
5.8
Ask learners why they think the UK’s consumption figure for CO2 emissions per person is greater
than its territorial-based emissions, whereas China’s consumption CO2 emissions per person is
less than its territorial-based emissions. Explain that many of the things we consume in the UK
are imported from other countries. However China exports many of the things it produces to
other countries. Ask learners which measure they think is fairer and who they think should be
responsible for the CO2 emissions of these products – the country where the products were
produced or the country where the products were consumed?
Explain that people sometimes look at data for CO2 emissions per country rather than per
person. Show slide 16 and say that this is a world map showing total CO2 emissions for each
country. Ask learners questions about this map and what differences they notice between this
map and the world map showing CO2 emissions per person.
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o
Which country has the highest total CO2 emissions? Answer: China.
o
India is ranked third in the world according to total CO2 emissions however it is in 79th place
for CO2 emissions per person. Why is this?
o
Which map do you think is more useful and why?
Further idea
Learners could write a story describing what their daily lives would be like if they tried to halve
their use of fossil fuels. Ask for volunteers to read their stories aloud.
o
How did they feel about living in this way?
o
What were the good things about it?
o
What were the things they would find most difficult?
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You may use these photographs and associated information for the educational purposes at your
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Life history of an aluminium can
Source: The Aluminium Can worksheet, written by Gillian Symons and Prue Poulton and appearing
in Refuse, reuse and recycle (1993). Reproduced with permission from EcoActive:
http://www.ecoactive.org.uk/
Oxfam Education
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The journey of a loaf of bread
The boxes below show some of the processes involved in getting a loaf of bread to your
home. Cut out the boxes and try to arrange them into a flow chart to show the order in
which these stages will happen. Which of these processes do you think will use fossil fuels?
Customer driving to and from
the shop.
Milling the flour.
Baking the loaf of bread.
Packing the loaf of bread into
its plastic packaging.
Irrigating (watering) the wheat.
Transporting the wheat to the
mill.
Mixing the ingredients together
by machine.
Planting the wheat.
Transporting the flour to the
bread factory.
Harvesting the wheat.
Transporting the loaf of bread
to the supermarket.
Spraying the wheat with
pesticides.
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Who is responsible for climate change?
Cut out the boxes below. Put the countries in order according to what you think are their
CO2 emissions per person each year. The country with the biggest emissions should be at
the top and the country with the smallest at the bottom.
USA
China
India
Malawi
South Africa
UK
Brazil
United Arab
Emirates
Australia